This book is a short history of the art of Ancient Rus’, the medieval polity centered on Kiev, which flourished from the 9th to the 13th centuries, and which formed the basis for much of later Russian and Ukrainian culture. Topics covered include the influences of the Varangians and of Eastern Orthodoxy, the importance of Christianity, wooden architecture, churches and monasteries in Kiev, art and architecture in the historic city of Chernigov, and the arts of enamel and icon painting. Particular attention is paid to Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev ...

This 18th-century manuscript is a collection of letters, essays, and sermons by Saint Gregory Nazianzus (died circa 389). The manuscript is thought to be the first Arabic translation from the original Greek and has not yet been edited or published. It is the second volume of a two-volume work. Gregory of Nazianzus, also known as Gregory the Theologian, is recognized as a Father of the Church in both the Eastern and Western traditions. He was born in Cappadocia (eastern Anatolia), where he spent much of his life. He was a ...

This manuscript opens with the 20 letters “to the sons who follow his [Anthony’s] gentle path…and prayers to keep us from Satan’s example.” The letters are for the most part short, many not exceeding five folios. According to an introductory note, they are addressed to both men and women. The work is in a bold but relaxed hand. Each letter or other significant section is set off in red. There are no contemporary marginal glosses, but comments and corrections (some in English) in pencil were made by ...

This Biblical manuscript contains portions of the Old Testament historical books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. The volume is incomplete at the beginning and end. The scribe, whose name might have appeared in the missing colophon, is unknown. The copying was done in 1748 (Joshua) and 1749 (Second Kings). There are guide words but no page numbers. Chapters are inconsistently marked. The work is carefully written but appears to have received little use, as indicated by the lack of the fore-edge smudging observed in some other manuscripts in the ...

This manuscript copy of the Gospel of Saint Mark can be dated to the 18th century. The text is copied clearly and enclosed in a double-lined frame in red. The folios are numbered with Coptic numerals. The manuscript has many marginal notes and Old Testament references in Arabic, with Coptic numerals employed for chapter and verse citations. The marginalia may have been added by Wadi’ Muftah, whose name appears on the front endpapers. The text is complete and is in excellent condition. The binding is brown leather over boards with ...

This manuscript of the Gospel of Saint Luke can be dated to the 18th century. The text is written clearly and enclosed in a double-lined frame in red. The folios are numbered with Coptic numerals. The manuscript has many marginal notes and Old Testament references in Arabic, with Coptic numerals employed for chapter and verse citations. The marginalia may have been added by Wadi’ Muftah, whose name appears on the front endpapers. The text is complete and is in excellent condition, although the last page is copied in a different ...

This Arabic manuscript of the Gospel of Saint John dates from the 18th century. The text is written clearly and enclosed in a double-lined frame in red. The folios are numbered with Coptic numerals. The manuscript has many marginal notes and Old Testament references in Arabic, with Coptic numerals employed for chapter and verse citations. The marginalia may have been added by Wadi’ Muftah, whose name appears on the front endpapers. The text is complete and is in excellent condition, although the last page is copied in a different hand ...

This manuscript volume contains two drafts of a work on the Eucharistic sacrament (Arabic, sirr al-‘Afkharistiya). The sacrament is revered in many Christian churches, including the Coptic Orthodox Church, as the transformation of bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus Christ. It is the central event of every mass in the Orthodox tradition and in many Western denominations. The volume contains two versions of the same essay. Authorship is ascribed to Iryan Moftah (1826–86), even though his name does not appear anywhere in the notebook ...

This manuscript is a notebook containing the draft of a sermon or essay by Coptic thinker and teacher Iryan Moftah (1826–86) on the theme of the reconciliation of justice with mercy. The author’s notes are in a careful Ruqah script on unlined commercial notebook paper with holes punched for insertion into a binder. The main text is heavily annotated with Biblical citations and textual emendations in the margins. Some pages are missing, as are the last pages of the volume. The author is not named in the text ...

This Arabic manuscript contains two works pertaining to the Virgin Mary, who is recognized as the mother of Jesus Christ in both Christian and Muslim scriptures. The first manuscript is a personal prayer to the Virgin, to be recited daily for spiritual benefit. It includes a review of Mary’s place in the life of Jesus as recounted in the New Testament, beginning with the Archangel Gabriel’s announcement of the birth of Jesus and ending with Mary’s presence at the crucifixion. The second manuscript is a litany, or ...

This manuscript deals with the calculation of Easter Sunday according to the Coptic calendar. Fixing this date each year governs much of the liturgical and devotional life of the Coptic Orthodox Church. The Coptic calendar begins in 284 AD, which is called Anno Martyrum (AM), or Year of the Martyrs. The first folio contains a table of the four seasons with their corresponding Coptic months and zodiacal signs. The following pages, some of which are torn or badly stained, provide instructions for calculating the movement of the moon and reconciling ...

This manuscript of devotions attributed to Butrus al-Sadamanti appears to have been copied in the 19th century by an anonymous scribe. The manuscript includes a 40-page introduction to the devotions. The title is not found in the work itself, but is noted on the inside front cover. The binding is small and tight and the text block is generally sound except for the last pages, which are missing. Little is known of the life of the presumed author, named in the incipit as anba (bishop) and qiddis (saint) Butrus al-Sadamanti ...

This codex from the Plutei Collection of the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence is a compilation of texts related to the Christian Church in Visigothic Spain. As stated on the colophon, the volume was originally made for King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary (1443–90). It includes Sententiarum libri V (Five books of the sentences) by Taio Samuel (died 683), followed by a collection of writings by the Church Fathers chosen by Isidore of Seville, and a letter by Quiricus, bishop first of Barcelona and then of Toledo, to Taio Samuel ...

This manuscript, created in the Byzantine Empire in the second quarter of the 11th century, contains the biographies of saints whom the church commemorates in the month of January. It was originally part of a set containing volumes for each month of the year. A companion volume, with texts for March, now survives in Moscow (State Historical Museum, MS gr. 183). Each chapter in both manuscripts opens with a miniature depicting the death of a respective saint, or less often, another significant event from his or her life. Each text ...

This manuscript was made around 1800 by an often-persecuted group of Russian Christians, the Old Believers. Because books were frequently confiscated from this group and its members were denied the use of printing presses, they continued to write important books such as this one by hand. This text chronicles and illustrates the story of a group of monks at the Solovetsky Monastery who opposed the controversial reforms introduced by Nikon (Patriarch of Moscow, 1652−58) and who endured a siege of eight years (1668−76) before they were finally betrayed ...

Allegatio ivris, et consilium pro examinandis et approbandis miraculis religio fissimi viri Francisci Solano Seraphici Franciscani ordinis alumni(Legal allegation and decision to examine and approve the miracles on record of the very pious man Father Francis Solano, member of the Seraphic Franciscan Order) was published in Lima, Peru, in 1612. Saint Francis Solano (1549−1610) was a Spanish-born Franciscan friar who came to South America in 1589, where he worked for 20 years as a missionary among the Indians of northwestern Argentina and Paraguay. He was canonized in 1726 ...

Relacion delas fiestas qve enla civdad de Lima se hizieron por la beatificacion del bienaventvrado Padre Ignacio de Loyola, fundador dela Religion dela Compañia de Ieʃus (Report of the feasts held in the city of Lima for the beatification of the blessed Father Ignatius of Loyola) was published in Lima, Peru, in 1610. Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556), the Spanish nobleman who founded the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) in 1540, was beatified by Pope Paul V on July 27, 1609. This publication documents the celebrations that took place ...

Fiel y Verdadero treslado de vn breve memorial de la vida y milagros del ʃancto Padre Fray Iulian de Alcala (Faithful and true translation of a brief memoir of the life and miracles of the saintly Brother Julian of Alcala) was published in Lima, Peru, in 1610. It is a short pamphlet, in Spanish, about the life of Brother Julian, who was born circa 1550 in Medinaceli and died in 1606 in Alcalá de Henares. He was beatified in 1825 as the Blessed Julian of Saint Augustine. The first printing ...

Relacion delas fiestas qve enla civdad del Cvzco se hizieron por la beatificacion del bienaventvrado Padre Ignacio de Loyola, fundador de la Compañia de Ieʃus (Report of the feasts held in the city of Cuzco for the beatification of the blessed Saint Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus) was published in Lima, Peru, in 1610. Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556), the Spanish nobleman who founded the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) in 1540, was beatified by Pope Paul V on July 27, 1609. This publication documents ...

Katechysmus, To geʃt: Kratičke obʃazenij a wyklad přednich Cžlankůw Wyrij a Náboženʃtwij Křestianského čemuž ʃe Lidé Křestianʃʃtij a zwlaʃʃte Dijtky w Sʃkolách počátečné wyvčugij (Catechism, that is: a brief overview and an exposition of the foremost articles of faith and the Christian religion, which catechumens, and especially children in schools, learn initially), published in 1581, is the first work printed in the territory of Slovakia in the Slovak language. It is the famous “small catechism” by Martin Luther (1483−1546), the great leader of the Protestant Reformation in Germany. The ...

This photograph of the central ensemble of the Transfiguration-Solovetskii Monastery was taken in 1998 by Dr. William Brumfield, American photographer and historian of Russian architecture, as part of the "Meeting of Frontiers" project at the Library of Congress. Located on Large Solovetskii Island, part of an archipelago in the White Sea, the monastery was founded as early as 1429 by the monk Savvatii. Following his death in 1435, the enterprise was revived by the monk Zosima in 1436. After decades of tenuous existence, the remote monastery greatly expanded in the ...

The brothers Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas Lumière (1862-1954) and Louis Jean Lumière (1864-1948) are credited with the development of the Cinématographe (1895), an elegant and technically simple projection device that revolutionized the early motion picture industry. In contrast to Thomas Edison’s Kinetograph, which was heavy and difficult to move, the Cinématographe was a light, portable device that brought the camera (weighing just over seven kilograms) out of doors. The Lumières sent crews around the world to record a wide array of scenes and images. These films were shown to ...

The brothers Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas Lumière (1862-1954) and Louis Jean Lumière (1864-1948) are credited with the development of the Cinématographe (1895), an elegant and technically simple projection device that revolutionized the early motion picture industry. In contrast to Thomas Edison’s Kinetograph, which was heavy and difficult to move, the Cinématographe was a light, portable device that brought the camera (weighing just over seven kilograms) out of doors. The Lumières sent crews around the world to record a wide array of scenes and images. These films were shown to ...

The brothers Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas Lumière (1862-1954) and Louis Jean Lumière (1864-1948) are credited with the development of the Cinématographe (1895), an elegant and technically simple projection device that revolutionized the early motion picture industry. In contrast to Thomas Edison’s Kinetograph, which was heavy and difficult to move, the Cinématographe was a light, portable device that brought the camera (weighing just over seven kilograms) out of doors. The Lumières sent crews around the world to record a wide array of scenes and images. These films were shown to ...

This pencil caricature depicts King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy and Napoleon III as soldiers changing guard, while Pope Pius IX peers around the corner. The caricature relates to the intricate maneuvering in the mid-19th century among France, Austria, the Papal States, and Italian nationalists that preceded the unification of Italy. French and Austrian troops had been in Rome to protect the Papal States since 1850, when Pius IX began to fear the rise of anti-papal nationalists. In 1858, the Sardinians entered into an agreement with Napoleon III to fight ...

The brothers Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas Lumière (1862-1954) and Louis Jean Lumière (1864-1948) are credited with the development of the Cinématographe (1895), an elegant and technically simple projection device that revolutionized the early motion picture industry. In contrast to Thomas Edison’s Kinetograph, which was heavy and difficult to move, the Cinématographe was a light, portable device that brought the camera (weighing just over seven kilograms) out of doors. The Lumières sent crews around the world to record a wide array of scenes and images. These films were shown to ...

The brothers Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas Lumière (1862-1954) and Louis Jean Lumière (1864-1948) are credited with the development of the Cinématographe (1895), an elegant and technically simple projection device that revolutionized the early motion picture industry. In contrast to Thomas Edison’s Kinetograph, which was heavy and difficult to move, the Cinématographe was a light, portable device that brought the camera (weighing just over seven kilograms) out of doors. The Lumières sent crews around the world to record a wide array of scenes and images. These films were shown to ...

The brothers Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas Lumière (1862-1954) and Louis Jean Lumière (1864-1948) are credited with the development of the Cinématographe (1895), an elegant and technically simple projection device that revolutionized the early motion picture industry. In contrast to Thomas Edison’s Kinetograph, which was heavy and difficult to move, the Cinématographe was a light, portable device that brought the camera (weighing just over seven kilograms) out of doors. The Lumières sent crews around the world to record a wide array of scenes and images. These films were shown to ...

This Maronite prayer book was copied in 1888 by the self-styled “wretched, lazy scribe” Yūsuf Dib. The text is partly in Syriac, partly in Garshuni (Arabic written in Syriac letters). Instead of rubrication—indicating titles and important words in red ink—purple ink is mostly used for this purpose. The manuscript provides a fine example of a carefully written and well-preserved text. The Maronite Church is an Eastern Catholic Church in communion with the Holy See in Rome. Centered in Lebanon, the church takes its name from Saint Marun (died ...

This late 17th century manuscript, copied by a deacon named Jacob, contains the Maronite Divine Office for Lent in Syriac. The numeration, using Syriac letters, is in pages rather than folios. The colophon is in Garshuni (Arabic written in Syriac letters). The Maronite Church is an Eastern Catholic Church in communion with the Holy See in Rome. Centered in Lebanon, the church takes its name from Saint Maron (died 410), a Syrian monk whose followers built a monastery in his honor that became the nucleus of the Maronite Church.

This manuscript contains a work in Garshuni (Arabic language written in Syriac script) on the sacraments. At the beginning of the manuscript, the work is called The Unique Explanation of the Secrets (i.e., the sacraments), but in the colophon the book is called The Treasure House of the Secrets. The manuscript was copied by Stephen (Isṭifānūs), a monk of the St. Antony Monastery. The colophon mentions the date of completing the manuscript as the 11th day of Tammuz (July), 1740. The work has numerous marginal annotations, also in Garshuni.

A major component of the Volga-Baltic Waterway (formerly called the Mariinsk Canal System), linking Saint Petersburg with the Volga River basin, is the Sheksna River, which drains the southeastern part of White Lake (Beloe ozero). One of the most important settlements near the Sheksna is Kirillov, founded in 1397 by the monk Kirill (Cyril) as part of his Dormition Monastery, subsequently named the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery. Seen in this 1909 photograph is the sepulcher containing the relics of Saint Kirill in the Church of Saint Kirill, reconstructed in 1792–94. The ...

This photograph of a Russian Orthodox church in the ancient city of Khodzhent (Khujand, in Tajik) comes from Turkestan Album, one of the richest sources of visual information on the cultural monuments of Central Asia as they appeared in the 19th century. This multi-volume edition was produced in 1871-72 under the patronage of Konstantin P. von Kaufman, a Russian army general and the empire's first governor-general of Turkestan. Kaufman held that position from 1867 to 1886, during which time he played a major role in establishing Russia's dominant ...

This photograph of the chambers of Bishop Joseph Zolotoy in Vologda was taken in 1995 by Dr. William Brumfield, American photographer and historian of Russian architecture, as part of the "Meeting of Frontiers" project at the Library of Congress. Before the founding of St. Petersburg in 1703, Russia depended on a northern route through the White Sea for trade with western Europe. One of the main centers on this route was Vologda, whose importance is reflected in architectural monuments such as this distinctive structure. Located in Archbishop's Court adjacent ...

This late-17th-century volume in Arabic is a Euchologion, the prayer book and book of ritual for the Byzantine Rite. The text includes Arabic and Greek prayers side by side, along with extra notes and instructions in Arabic. Not surprisingly, there are a number of Greek loanwords in the text, for example: qundāq, from the Greek kontakion, referring to the liturgical book itself; aghrubnīya, from the Greek agrupnia, meaning “vigil”; and afšīn, from the Greek euchēn, meaning “prayer.” The Byzantine Rite is the liturgical rite used by the Eastern Orthodox churches ...

This manuscript contains the canons of the Melkite Synod of Qarqafe in Lebanon, which took place in 1806 with Patriarch Agapios II Matar (sometimes known as Agapios III) presiding. The synod was seen as having been particularly influenced by the Melkite bishop of Aleppo, Germanos Adam (died 1809). The text contains numerous corrections and marginal notes by another hand. It is prefaced by a table of the canons and a list of signatories is supplied at the end of the work. The Melkite Synod of Qarqafe was later condemned for ...

This manuscript contains the canons of the Synod of ‘Ain Traz, which was convened in 1835 by Patriarch Maximos III (Michael Mazlūm, died 1855). This assembly is especially significant for being the only Melkite synod fully ratified by Rome. It took place in 1841, the same year in which the Arabic text was printed in Rome. Included are 25 canons concerning all manner of church matters, which are indicated in the table of contents at the end. The manuscript is in Arabic, but the decretum of the Congregatio de Propaganda ...

This work is part of a collection of sermons by the Jesuit "monk" Būlus (Paul) al-Sanīrī (died 1691), as he is called here. It is in a carefully written script and thoroughly rubricated. In addition to the regular use of rubrication for section title, quotations from the Bible are also given in red, with the exact verse references also indicated in red in the margin. Initial and final pages of the volume have some minor water damage. The manuscript once belonged to the Monastery of Saints Cyprian and Justina at ...

This liturgical manuscript is the daily office (Šḥimto) of the Maronites, partly in Syriac, but with some of the prayers in Garshuni (Arabic in Syriac letters). Each page has the text blocked off in red ink. At the end of the manuscript, the ink has bled through in several places, and within the text, several folios have missing pieces (for example, folio 144v). The Maronite Church is an Eastern Catholic Church in communion with the Holy See in Rome. Centered in Lebanon, the church takes its name from Saint Marun ...

This manuscript, dated 1871, contains a selection of 87 homilies of John Chrysostom (circa 347–407), a church father and archbishop of Constantinople. Chrysostom originally wrote in Greek, but he was commonly read in Arabic translations, especially by Coptic and Melkite readers. This particular collection of 87 sermons remains extant in several manuscripts. This copy, however, lacks sermon 15, although the copyist indicates its subject: the casting out of Satan from the man dwelling among the tombs (see Mark 5:1-20). The Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches honor John Chrysostom ...

This volume contains the canons (decisions on ecclesiastical matters), translated from Greek into Arabic, of the seven great Church councils and extracts from six local or provincial councils. The seven great ecumenical councils were: Nicea (which took place in 325), Constantinople I (381), Ephesus (431), Chalcedon (451), Constantinople II (553), Constantinople III (680), and Nicea II (787). This collection of canons was compiled and arranged by Yūḥannā Ibn Zinda in 1690. The manuscript is dated 1851 by two copyists and is said to have belonged to the library of the ...

This Armenian manuscript is a collection of canons (regulations or dogma as laid down by a church council). It is dated 1710 and exhibits the script known as nōtrgir (late minuscule). Each page has a clear border and 25 straight lines in one column. The manuscript is in good condition throughout, but some evidence of text repair can be seen on page 261. There are very many page decorations, human representations, and birds. Nōtrgir, a later minuscule script dominant in Armenian from the 17th century, differs fromArmenian uncial ...